Strikes

Strike is a very powerful weapon used by trade unions and other labor associations to get their demands accepted. It generally involves quitting of work by a group of workers for the purpose of bringing the pressure on their employer so that their demands get accepted. When workers collectively cease to work in a particular industry, they are said to be on strike.

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve (of French: grève), or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines. In most countries, they were quickly made illegal, as factory owners had far more political power than workers. Most western countries partially legalized striking in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.

No doubt strike is the ultimate weapon in the hands of worker and labour laws also support strikes if it does in accordance with , if we go through the history of strikes and analyse, core reason we find ultimately is non payment of wages to workers by their employer, followed by irregular payment of wages and then less payment of the wages.

Causes of strikes:
Strikes can occur because of the following reasons:
– Dissatisfaction with company policy
– Salary and incentive problems
– Increment not up to the mark
– Wrongful discharge or dismissal of workmen
– Withdrawal of any concession or privilege
– Hours of work and rest intervals
– Leaves with wages and holidays
– Bonus, profit sharing, Provident fund and gratuity
– Retrenchment of workmen and closure of establishment
– Dispute connected with minimum wages

TYPES OF STRIKE 1) Economic Strike: Under this type of strike, labors stop their work to enforce their economic demands such as wages and bonus. In these kinds of strikes, workers ask for increase in wages, allowances like traveling allowance, house rent allowance, dearness allowance, bonus and other facilities such as increase in privilege leave and casual leave.

2) Sympathetic Strike: When workers of one unit or industry go on strike in sympathy with workers of another unit or industry who are already on strike, it is called a sympathetic strike. The members of other unions involve themselves in a strike to support or express their sympathy with the members of unions who are on strike in other undertakings. The workers of sugar industry may go on strike in sympathy with their fellow workers of the textile industry who may already be on strike.

3) General Strike: It means a strike by members of all or most of the unions in a region or an industry. It may be a strike of all the workers in a particular region of industry to force demands common to all the workers. These strikes are usually intended to create political pressure on the ruling government, rather than on any one employer. It may also be an extension of the sympathetic strike to express generalized protest by the workers.

4) Sit down Strike: In this case, workers do not absent themselves from their place of work when they are on strike. They keep control over production facilities. But do not work. Such a strike is also known as ‘pen down’ or ‘tool down’ strike. Workers show up to their place of employment, but they refuse to work. They also refuse to leave, which makes it very difficult for employer to defy the union and take the workers’ places. In June 1998, all the Municipal Corporation employees in Punjab observed a pen down strike to protest against the non-acceptance of their demands by the state government.

5) Slow Down Strike: Employees remain on their jobs under this type of strike. They do not stop work, but restrict the rate of output in an organized manner. They adopt go-slow tactics to put pressure on the employers.

6) Hunger strike: in this form of industrial protest, workmen resort to fasting near the workplace in order to demand the employer to redress their grievances.
On 18,July,2012, India’s leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki Udyog Ltd in Manesar factory workers in an agitation at factory human resource manager burned to death by workers, made severe damage to companies property and hurt severely several other workers. Thereby MSUL (Maruti Suzuki Udyog Ltd) sacked all of its workers who ever involved in that incident and filed a police complaint against those employees. on 8,November,2012, few workers strike who are dismissed but claims that they were not involved resorted to hunger strike demanding to reinstate them.

7) Wild cat strikes: These strikes are conducted by workers or employees without the authority and consent of unions. In 2004, a significant number of advocated went on wildcat strike at the City Civil Court premises in Bangalore. They were protesting against some remarks allegedly made against them by an Assistant Commissioner.